The opposition has denounced calls by participants at the “national dialogue”, which began earlier this week at President Macky Sall’s request, for the postponed elections to hold in June – and suggesting that Sall should remain in power until a new president is elected.
“The National Dialogue has called for the 2nd of June 2024 as the new date for presidential elections in Senegal,” Sall’s social media accounts posted on Thursday, February 29.
Following Sall’s promise that he will leave power on April 2, the day his mandate ends, the opposition has demanded that the vote be held before Sall’s term is up. Their call is driven by the uncertainty around the new date for the elections after Sall’s decision to postpone.
“I want to make it categorically clear that I will step down from office on the 2nd of April, as I have previously made clear,” the statement added.
“My departure date is absolutely firm.”
In response, civil society group Aar Sunu Election (“Protect our Election”) said it was joining forces with opposition candidates and other activists to ensure the presidential election is held before Sall’s mandate runs out.
The opposition candidates have been organising under the name Fippu (“Resistance”) with a common objective: to hold the vote by April.
A number of opposition figures have called for a massive popular front to “vigorously defend our constitution and guarantee the integrity of our electoral process.”
Opposition candidate, Thierno Alassane Sall, who heads the La République des Valeurs party and a former minister of energy, says the Constitutional Council faces enormous pressure aimed at destabilising and taming it. He said the fact that the council’s judges noted that Macky Sall chose to ignore decision n°1/C/2024, it is imperative that the Council dismiss all requests filed on February 26 by candidates, without giving Macky Sall more time.
Participants at the national dialogue that held on Monday and Tuesday concluded that the presidential vote Sall postponed could not be held by the time his mandate ends.
They presented a proposal, following a broad consensus after the dialogue, that the election could not be held for at least three months from February, presenting early June as the most feasible time for the vote, a date that is one month short of Sall’s initial proposal for the end of July.
The participants also proposed keeping the list of 19 candidates already validated by the Constitutional Council, Senegal’s top election authority, before the original February election date.
They suggested the possibility of re-examining whether the exclusion of a number of other opposition candidates was justified, a move that many say could see prominent challenger Karim Wade allowed back into the race, following his renunciation of his French citizenship.
The candidacy of another leading opponent, Ousmane Sonko, remains pending. Convicted in 2023 for “corrupting young people”, he awaits news on whether he would be released under an amnesty bill announced by Sall earlier this week.
Sall had indicated that he would ask the Constitutional Council to choose a temporary replacement to take over after his term ends in April. He said he would speak with the national dialogue commission again on 4 March.
The proposals discussed in the dialogue have to be submitted to the president, who must still issue a decree to convene the electoral body. The Constitutional Council also needs to validate the new election date.
The council’s seven judges will also have to examine proposals concerning the inclusion of additional candidates and the extension of the current president’s term.
Most of the opposition and 15 of the 19 presidential candidates have refused to participate in the national dialogue, which some describe as a mere charade.
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